Rants and Raves on Espresso

Deep inside Rincon Center One (now how apocalyptic does that sound?), this espresso counter serves coffee among the food court seating. It’s right next to the indoor, five-story “Rain Column” waterfall — so if you can find the insides of building, you won’t miss it. NaS uses a portable boom box of sorts to play cheesy pop music while you sip. Their baristas always seem extra-friendly, and they serve espresso at a somewhat high brewing temperature at times.

From their three-group Nuova Simonelli machine, they produce an espresso with a crema that can vary from a deep, dark brown, and thin to something that barely forms a ring around a paper cup. It has a dark body and a slightly ashy, bitter flavor. The staff here are a bit secretive about their bean suppliers, though Adam’s Organic is clearly one of them. They do exclusively focus on Fair Trade and organic beans, however — which limits their suppliers.

This is the last remains of the NaS Coffee chain that has since folded every other location around town. In fact, their corporate Web site has even skipped town. Chances are this location kept the NaS name out of convenience, despite the chain’s failure at corporate expansion. But tasting the coffee, you can’t say that their failure is suprising. Newer chains like The Organic Coffee Company are trying to succeed where NaS failed, but good luck to them — they’re going to need it.